Alexander the Great (10)

Alexander the Great (*356; r. 336-323):
the Macedonian
king who defeated his Persian colleague Darius
III Codomannus and conquered the Achaemenid
Empire. During his campaigns, Alexander visited a.o. Egypt, Babylonia,
Persis, Media,
Bactria,
the Punjab, and the valley of the Indus. In the second half of his reign,
he had to find a way to rule his newly conquered countries. Therefore,
he made Babylon
his capital and introduced the oriental court ceremonial, which caused
great tensions with his Macedonian and Greek officers.

This is the tenth of a series of articles. A complete
overview can be found here
and a chronological table of his reign can be found here.

The river crossing at Shushtar

The end of Persia

The Persian gate

After crossing the river Pasitigris
at a place that can be identified with modern Shushtar,
Alexander
reached the southern spurs of the Zagros
mountains. They are situated between Susiana and the Persian homeland -
that is, between modern Khuzestân and the Shîrâz. The
Macedonian
army would have to force its way through one of the passes. That would
be difficult, because the Macedonians were now entering a country where
they could not pretend to be liberating the inhabitants. They would encounter
resistance from people who were defending their homes and families.

The Persian gate:
entrance of the valley

Somewhere near Masjid-e
Solaiman, Alexander divided his troops, to spread the risks. His trusted
general
Parmenion
was to take a southerly route around the mountains, the Macedonian king
would take the main road and would force the Persian
gate, which is near modern Yasuj. As could be expected, the satrap
of Persis, Ariobarzanes,
occupied the pass and Alexander suffered heavy losses when he tried to
repeat the frontal attack that had been successful at the Cilician
gate.

Every pass can be turned and we can be certain that Alexander's scouts
searched for a mountain path to get into their enemy's rear. The Greek
sources tell a charming story about a shepherd with a grudge against the
Persians, who showed them the best way to by-pass the enemy. It may be
true, but one suspects that the Greek authors could -before the final punishment
of the Persians for the crimes they had committed during Xerxes'
campaign- not resist the temptation to invent a traitor. The shepherd may
have been introduced as a kind of answer to Ephialtes, who had once showed
the Persians the road to the Greek heartland.

Persepolis

However this may be, the Persian garrison in the mountains was destroyed,
and in January 330, the Macedonian
army stood in Persepolis,
the capital of the Achaemenid
empire. Many inhabitants fled, some committed suicide, but the governor
surrendered the town and its treasure. Alexander gave the town itself to
his soldiers, who had seen the riches of the East several times, but had
never had their share. So the city was looted, except for the royal palace.

Almost at the same time, nearby Pasargadae
(Pâthragâda) was captured, Persia's religious capital,
where the kings were inaugurated.

The Macedonians and Greeks had reached the goal of their crusade: the
Persians were punished for the destruction of Athens in 480/479 BCE. But
this was not enough for the son of Zeus. He now wanted universal recognition
as 'king of Asia'. Alexander had already claimed the title after the battle
of Issus, had taken the Persian royal harem (above),
had stressed that he descended from Perseus, the legendary ancestor
of the Persian kings (above), had been
recognized as 'king of the world' in Babylon
(above and here),
had appointed Persians in important offices (above),
and now wanted recognition from all Persians. He needed it, if he were
to rule the territories already conquered.

Actually, our Greek sources do not mention this explicitly, but it is
clear from other evidence. One clue is that Arrian
of Nicomedia writes that Alexander intended to visit the tomb of Cyrus
the Great after his conquest of Persia (text).
This is a way of saying that he wanted to be crowned as king, because this
ceremony took place near the tomb. Unfortunately, he could not be enthroned,
as long as Darius
III Codomannus was still alive.

Another clue is that Alexander stayed at Persepolis for more than four
months. This makes no military sense, but a likely explanation is that
Alexander wanted to celebrate the New Year festival as if he were Persia's
sole ruler. During this festival the Persian nobility came to Persepolis
to do homage to the Achaemenid king and Alexander may have seen an opportunity
to entice the Iranian aristocracy away from Darius. However, his hopes
were disappointed. Except for the Persians he had already appointed in
high offices, only a few visitors turned up in the first days of April;
one of them was Phrasaortes, who was appointed satrap of Persis.

Not having obtained support from the Persian aristocrats, it was war
again: the army had to march to Ecbatana
(modern Hamadan), the northern capital of the Achaemenid empire, where
Darius was. This was the nightmare of the Macedonian high command: to search
for an enemy that would certainly move to the eastern part of the Achaemenid
empire. Unless Darius stood his ground at Ecbatana, the Macedonian army
would be forced to follow him to unknown countries, fighting a war of an
unknown type. Eventually, Darius was killed, but Alexander was indeed lured
into a disastrous eastern campaign.

Traces of fire on one of
the columns of the Apadana, Persepolis

The sack of Persepolis

Before leaving Persepolis, Alexander ordered the palace
to be burnt down. There are two accounts of this incident. First, there
is the sober story of the Greek author Arrian
of Nicomedia, derived from his source Ptolemy,
a close friend of Alexander who was an eyewitness. It states simply that
Alexander, after a discussion with his friends, burnt the palace as a retribution
for the destruction of Athens.

A more romantic account can be found in Plutarch
of Chaeronea, Quintus
Curtius Rufus and
Diodorus
of Sicily; these sources are derived from Cleitarchus,
who wrote a quarter of a century after the events. He tells that
a courtesan named Thais was present at a drinking party and convinced the
drunken king that it would be his greatest achievement in Asia to set fire
to the palace. At first, this seems to be a cautionary tale for alcoholics
without any value as historical source; and we may be inclined to believe
Ptolemy's sober statement that the destruction was a premeditated act.
However, it can be proven that Ptolemy is not telling the whole truth:
Thais was his lover (and the mother of three of his children). It may well
be true that she did indeed play a role.

Archaeologists have shown that the palace at Persepolis was only partially destroyed and that most
buildings received a special treatment from the arsonists. For example,
the palace
of Xerxes, the destroyer of Athens, was damaged, but that palace of Darius wasn't. Other buildings that were damaged were the Apadana
and the Treasury: the
symbols of the gift exchange ritual that was the core of the Persian
Empire's political system. It is highly unlikely that a fire created
randomly by drunken arsonists would destroy exactly these three
buildings. The fire was planned (more....).

The desert southeast of modern Isfahan

It remains to find a motive for this vandalism. The Macedonians could not leave the palace behind: the search for Darius
promised to be a long and difficult campaign, and it was possible that
the Persians would liberate Persepolis and gain access to the remains of
the treasury when the Macedonians were at Ecbatana. The destruction of
the palace was a military necessity, and the decision to destroy it was
made easier because the Persian nobility had not visited the king: they
had chosen to be enemies, so they would be treated like enemies. Preparations
for the fire-raising must have taken some time and it is possible that
they were not completely finished when an intoxicated king decided to commit
the 'most detested town in the world' to the flames.

The pursuit of Darius

In May, the Macedonian infantry marched to the northwest, crossing
Deh
Bid pass, and in June, they reached Ecbatana, the capital of the satrapy
Media.
But Darius was no longer there. Just a couple of days before, he had gone
to the east. It is interesting to note that he had stayed at Ecbatana during
the winter, because this proves that he still hoped to be reinforced, could
liberate Assyria
and Babylonia
and cut off the Macedonian lines of supply while Alexander lingered in
Persepolis. In fact, during their march to Ecbatana, at Gabae,
the Macedonians received word that Darius would indeed receive troops and
was prepared to offer battle, but it seems that the new soldiers arrived
too late.

From now on, Darius III Codomannus was no longer fighting to regain
his empire. The great king, the king of kings, the
king of Persia, the king of countries, the lord of many kinds of
men, the king of all men from the rising to the setting sun,
thePersian, an Aryan,
the
Achaemenid,
was now fighting for his survival and hoping to be in Bactria
before the Macedonians would overtake him.

Even worse, Darius' supporters were wavering. There were divisions within
the royal family: a prince named Bisthanes, the son of the former king
Artaxerxes
III Ochus, surrendered Ecbatana to the Macedonians, the last of Persia's
royal capitals to be captured. Alexander continued his policy to lure Persian
noblemen away from his opponent: a Persian named Atropates
was received an important courtier and later appointed as satrap of Media.

King Darius was taking with him the treasure of Ecbatana and traveled
slowly. He should have left earlier and he must have cursed the reinforcements
that had promised to help him and had caused him to stay at Ecbatana. He
reached Rhagae
(near modern Tehran), the most important religious center of the Zoroastrians.
Darius may have wanted to sacrifice to the sacred fire, but was unable
to stop: if Persia and its religion were to have a future, he would have
to reach the eastern satrapies and recruit an army. Being killed by the
Macedonians was more honorable but would not help the Persians. So he continued
to Parthia.

The Dasht-e-kavir
desert
where Darius was killed

The death of Darius

The satrap of Bactria was the most important man in the Achaemenid empire
after the king. A crown prince would reign Bactria for a couple of years
and a king without grown-up sons would appoint his brother in this satrapy.
The present governor of Bactria, a man named Bessus,
must have been very closely related to Darius and the king must have thought
that he was safe when he reached the territory of Bessus. But he was wrong.

To Bessus and Barsaentes, the satrap of Arachosia
and Drangiana,
the situation was clear: if they remained loyal to their king, the Macedonians
would invade the eastern satrapies. On the other hand, if they arrested
Darius and delivered him to the invaders, there would be no war, because
it was unlikely that the Macedonians were interested in unknown countries,
where they would be forced to fight a war of an unknown type. But they
were wrong too.

Alexander and the cavalry followed Darius as fast as they could. After
ten or twelve days, the Macedonians were at Rhagae, where they briefly
paused; two days later, they crossed the Caspian
Gate and reached Parthia, where they met two servants of Darius -one
Bagistanes and Artiboles (the son of the satrap of Babylonia, Mazaeus)-
who told him that their master had been arrested. The Macedonian king who
wanted to be recognized as king of Persia, was now faced with the following
choice:

if he accepted that Bessus delivered Darius to him, he was obliged to accept
the independence of the eastern half of the empire, and he would have to
make a decision about Darius' fate:

if he killed the man, he would never be accepted by the Persians; the territories
he had conquered would never be secure, especially since there were independent
Iranians in the east, who could assist rebels;

if he spared Darius, he would obtain the loyalty of the Persians, but this
loyalty could always be switched back to the former king;

if he did not accept Bessus' offer, the satrap of Bactria would kill Darius
and become king himself; in that case Alexander could win the loyalty of
the Persians by launching a crusade against the regicide.

All these options must have crossed Alexander's mind, and he decided not
to negotiate. It was better that a Persian killed the Persian king. If
Alexander wanted to rule the countries he had conquered, he needed the
undivided loyalty of the local aristocrats, and he would never receive
their unconditional support as long as Darius was alive. If, on the other
hand, Darius was killed, Alexander could be crowned at Pasargadae and could
win the Persian support for an attack on the murderers. (The method was
tried and tested: his father had used it to unite Greece. The difference
was that the enemies of 337 were the allies of 330.) It was obvious what
he had to do. The only thing Alexander needed, was a dead king.

The Tomb of Artaxerxes
III.
Darius' final resting place?

He did not give Bessus a chance to open negotiations,
and sent Attalus and Parmenion's son Nicanor ahead to pursue the Persians. At Choara,
they reached their enemies, who were struck with terror and killed the
captive king (text). This happened in
July 330, near modern Dâmghân. The incident is mentioned in
the contemporary BabylonianAlexander
Chronicle.

Darius received a state funeral at Persepolis. Perhaps the "Unfinished
tomb" was prepared for him, but this was never completed, and it is
more likely that his last resting place was the Tomb
of Artaxerxes III. This is interesting, because it proves that
Alexander already regretted the destruction of the palace and wanted to
do what was expected from a Persian king: restore it.